HOME seemingly is really where the heart is for Fil-Australian guard Jordan Heading.
Three years after he was picked No. 1 in the special Gilas Pilipinas Draft, Heading is finally set to suit up in the PBA, linking up with Converge.
The FiberXers acquired the 6-foot-2 Heading from the Terrafirma Dyip in exchange for Aljun Melecio, Keith Zaldivar, and the team’s first-round pick in the pro league’s 51st season.
Pro league chief Willie Marcial greenlighted the deal yesterday in a development that should serve as a big shot in the arm for the young Converge ballclub.
FiberXers deputy coach Charles Tiu said Heading will not come in from the cold, having backstopped the Strong Group Athletics of Converge top backer and billionaire Frank Lao in this year’s Williams Jones Cup.
“We’re very excited. We’ve been waiting for this to happen. He will give us a big boost,” Tiu told Malaya-Business Insight yesterday.
“We’re very familiar with his game and we have a great relationship so I think it will work,” he added.
After getting selected by Terrafirma, the lefty Heading, 28, brought his act overseas, playing in Taiwan’s T1 side Taichung Wagor in the 2021-22 season before moving to the Japan B.League and seeing action for Nagasaki a year later.
Armed with a feathery touch from the outside and cage savvy, Heading will team up with this season’s top rookie choice, Justine Baltazar, who will join Converge in the Commissioner’s Cup after his finals stint for the Pampanga Giant Lanterns in the MPBL, and the likes of Justin Arana, Alec Stockton, and Schonny Winston.
A former Gilas national team training pool member, Heading played for the West Adelaide Bearcats in the NBL1 last season where he was good for 15.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists.
The FiberXers came off a 3-19 campaign in last season’s cage wars but reached the quarterfinals of the Governors’ Cup.
The Last Eight stint was the Dennis Uy-owned franchise’s best finish so far in its two years in the PBA.
The charges of interim coach Franco Atienza tantalizingly came so close to a maiden semifinal appearance, pushing the mighty San Miguel Beermen to sudden death in Game 5 before falling short in the end.
Converge also tapped former NBA cager Cheick Diallo as import for the mid-season tilt that unfurls on Nov. 27.
The pieces are now coming in for the FiberXers that should warn the rest of the field—they’re in win now mode.
